Ground broken in far East El Paso for new Carmike theater

Carmike Cinema Director of Marketing Terrell Mayton stood by a sign announcing the new Carmike Cinema 13 at Montana and Justice in east El Paso Thursday. (vc)

REPORTER

Vic Kolenc

Shovels of dirt were turned during a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning at the far East Side site of a proposed Carmike Cinemas theater, but actual construction of the 13-screen theater isn't likely to begin until late this year or early next year because the developer is waiting for City Hall approvals before it proceeds.

"This is the start of the process," said Terrell Mayton, director of marketing for Car mike, a Georgia company with about 250 theaters nationwide. "We are serious about growth, whether it's through acquisitions or building new locations."

On Thursday, Carmike also announced that nationally it had completed the purchase of 16 theaters from Rave Reviews Cinemas, a small theater chain operating mostly in the South. And it has 12 to 15 theaters in development or under construction, Mayton said.

Carmike's second El Paso theater complex is projected to open by late summer or fall of next year.

It's being built on a site only about a mile down Montana Avenue from where Cinemark, another large theater chain, has proposed building a 14-screen theater.

Mayton reiterated what he had said when the project was announced in early September -- that Cinemark's plan for a theater at Montana and Rich Beem Boulevard won't change Carmike's plan to build its theater at Montana and Justice Road, across the street from a Super Walmart.

"We're just focused on Carmike" and building a state-of-the-art theater that will be unique in El Paso, Mayton said in front of a sign proclaiming that a Carmike theater would be coming soon.

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James Meredith, vice president of marketing and communications for Dallas-based Cinemark, said in an email that the company still plans to build its theater on Montana and expects it to open next fall. He did not say when construction would begin, but in early September, when the project was announced, he said construction would begin before the end of the year.

Anthony Properties, a Dallas retail-site development company that has built Carmike theaters in other markets, completed purchase of the 19.6-acre Carmike site last week, reported Cesar Viramontes, an El Paso businessman who owns the theater site, and Brian Shiu, vice president of development for Anthony Properties.

The Carmike site is part of a larger 220-acre parcel of land Viramontes owns at Montana and Joe Battle Boulevard -- land he plans to have developed into a large retail and residential community. Viramontes once operated a jeans-washing plant in the area. He now operates a large jeans-washing plant in Meoquie, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Shiu said Anthony Properties hopes to start construction of the Carmike theater before the end of the year. It will take nine to 10 months to complete construction once it begins, he said.

However, Anthony Properties is still in the process of getting approval from City Hall for a site plan and construction permits. It hopes to have a site plat approved this week, and expects to get a grading permit by next week, said Frank Nuchereno, another Anthony Properties executive.

Anthony Properties signed an agreement Thursday morning with El Paso Water Utilities to bring water and sewer lines into the property, Nuchereno said. Those lines need to come in before theater construction can begin, he said. The utility will extend a waterline at the developers' expense, said Martin Bartlett, a utility spokesman. It also agreed to let the developer build water and sewer lines on the property with the utility's design, he said.

Shiu said the development company is also recruiting four restaurants to locate at four pad sites on the Carmike development. The project will cost about $16 million, he said.

Randy McMillan, principal for NAI El Paso, a commercial real estate company representing Viramontes' property, said Cinemark looked at the Carmike site first but chose a different site.

Having Carmike go on the property will increase the marketability of the land to developers, McMillan said.

Viramontes is proposing to put retail and other commercial development on about 60 acres, including the Carmike site, apartments on another 60 acres, and eventually have a community of homes built on about 100 acres farthest away from Montana.

Viramontes said he's in negotiations with Anthony Properties and other developers interested in doing the other proposed projects.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com, 546-6421. Follow him on Twitter @vickolenc

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